Weirdly, D&D didn’t encourage my leanings towards trying magic of my own at all. In fact, it frustrated them. Even the most pompous and ambitious historical magicians, from the Zaroastrian Magi through John Dee, Francis...

This, since junior school, had been virtually my only experience of women—as fantasy figures. Reading about women in fantasy novels had set me an even more unrealistic point of view. The Lord of the Rings...

Even if Zuma was to develop the authoritarian impulses of a Mugabe, he would be checked—not least by his own party, which set a continental precedent by ousting Thabo Mbeki in 2007, after it felt...

At the time I thought the winner in an argument was the person who put forward the most logical support for his position. Of course, this isn’t true. Human history, from gardening disputes to genocide,...

I don’t get as much fan mail as an actor or singer would, but when I get a letter 99% of the time it’s pointing out something that really had an impact. Like after ‘My...

One American in seven has no coverage, and one in three younger than sixty-five will lose coverage at some point in the next two years. These are people who aren’t poor or old enough to...